Wednesday, February 03, 2010

The madness of King Stephen.


In all seriousness, would it be over the top for Canada's political punditry to finally suggest that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is quite mad? No, really, can we, at this point, add the phrases "mentally disturbed" or "psychologically unbalanced" to the political discourse?

We've certainly seen more than enough evidence by now. From Harper's micro-managing megalomania to his creepy narcissism, why isn't it appropriate to finally suggest that there is something seriously wrong with that boy's wiring?

It was a hoot to watch this parody, comparing Harper to Adolf Hitler:



But, by the end of it, could you really not think that you were watching something awkwardly close to reality, where one imagines Harper closeted with his closest lieutenants, proclaiming that he's really, really tired of all these Afghan detainee questions and he's going to prorogue Parliament again, and he's not even going to bother walking over but will do it by phone, at which point there is an uncomfortable silence as said lieutenants look at each other, and one finally has the nerve to pipe up, "Uh, sir ... I really don't, uh, think that would be wise, the people are still a bit miffed from last year and this has the potential to backfire badly ...", whereupon Harper slams his fist on the desk, bellowing, "Who cares what the people think? I am the Prime Minister! L'etat, c'est moi!!"

And lest you think I am being unnecessarily hyperbolic, let's remember that it was the Right who invented this strategy of questioning the mental competence of their political opponents. Former practising psychiatrist Charles Krauthammer alone created an entire cottage industry out of "diagnosing" Democrats, which -- as I recall -- absolutely slayed the residents of Wankerville. Rolling in the aisles with laughter, they were. And it's safe to say that, whatever you think of Al Gore, he's a picture of rock-solid sanity compared to Stephen Harper.

So, why can't we finally address this? Regardless of how foamy and frothy it might make Canada's Idiot-sphere, they really don't have the moral high ground here. Having mocked the mental stability of their opponents for years, those useless yahoos really don't have much of a position from which to take umbrage.

Let the diagnosis begin.

12 comments:

Dr.Dawg said...

Democratic Deficit Disorder.

wv="lierapy." I hardly know where to begin.

deBeauxOs said...

Excellent post. More reflections like these, please.

Romantic Heretic said...

Severely neurotic. The man has a bad inferiority complex which he hides by acting in a 'superior' manner. Every move he takes, every word he says, states, "I am NOT week! I am NOT helpless! I am NOT inconsequential!"

It's a Jungian cry of despair.

Shiner said...

I think I posted this at Red's once, but Wikipedia says people with schizotypal disorder exhibit 5 or more of a set of 9 symptoms listed. Tell me these symptoms don't remind you of somebody:
-Ideas of reference
-Odd thinking and speech
-Suspiciousness or paranoid ideation
-Inappropriate or constricted affect
-Behaviour or appearance that is odd, eccentirc, or peculiar
-Lack of close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives
-Social anxiety that tends to be associated with paranoid fears rather than negative judgments about self

The symptoms also include:
-Odd beliefs or magical thinking
-Unusual perceptual experiences

It would be irresponsible not to speculate.

The Seer said...

1. If you think Our Lord Stephen Harper spent his whole life in politics and government just to turn the fruits of his labor over to someone else, oil companies or not, you are willing to believe the Vanguard of the Proletariat was willing to turn the fruits of its labors over to the workers and peasants.

2. You are missing an important element. Who is going to stop Our Lord Stephen? You heretofore have complained about Michelle Jean, but if she has the balls to stand up to Our Lord Stephen, who's going to have her back? She signed on to be deputy queen, not a martyr.

3. Canada's problem is not Our Lord Stephen; Canada is unable to produce an alternative leader.

wv: too, too much: demeral, scientific name meperidine. It's a narcotic used to treat moderate to severe pain.

Niles said...

The GG-MJ has eggs, not balls. Lots of eggs.

That said, like the Supreme Court, she is going to give the right honourable leader of the loyal government the benefit of a doubt to a fault because in this day and age of 'at home' democratic rule, if she acted with actual intrusion onto the governmental process rather than rubber stamping, she will wreak more concrete havoc than she theoretically stays --- unless it is blindingly, patently, obviously, a coup d'etat.

The GG is a person who has personal history with the instability of a despotic state (regardless of how that instability might have been promulgated by external forces and frankly I'm mean-spirited enough to believe external forces from parts South have a part in the present Canadian situation but that's another matter) Her bar for 'omigod' might be a bit higher than the Canadian average, especially if she's relying on constitutional expertise advice and mindful of her *ceremonial* role.

I wish people would stop scapegoating the GG for not causing even more accusations of appointed autocracy and put the responsibility squarely where it belongs, on the head of the beady-eyed self-righteous DeceptiCon leader whose mole men are tunneling, like all successful seige engineers, beneath the defenses of the governmental system.

Hoist him on his own petard.

sassy said...

This article has been around for some time but still fits.

http://www.metaball.ca/2008/ball_Mar-08/0308_01.html

Cameron Campbell said...

@The Seer Canada's problem is not Our Lord Stephen; Canada is unable to produce an alternative leader.

That's like saying cancer's no big deal, cause the real problem is that the cure doesn't exist yet.

Meanwhile people are still getting sick and dying.

Ti-Guy said...

Just ignore The Seer. He's not kidding about the meperedine, I think.

Jon Pertwee said...

I always thought The Seer got his views from trying to look through a cinderblock wall..

sooey said...

I suspect marital problems.

Jon Pertwee said...

or itchy crotch problems